History of robots

The history of robots traces the development of artificial machines, from ancient automata and mechanical devices to programmable industrial robots and autonomous systems.

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Antikythera mechanism: An ancient Greek geared device that modeled astronomical cycles and predicted celestial events. Its intricate gears exemplify ancient mechanical ingenuity, though it was not a robot.
Automaton: A self-operating machine designed to imitate actions or movements associated with living beings. Robotics inherited the idea of machines that act without continuous human control.
Programmable logic controller: An industrial computer designed to control machinery through programmed logic and input-output signals. Programmable controllers helped make factory automation adaptable and reliable.
Karel Čapek: A Czech writer whose 1920 play R.U.R. popularized the word “robot.” His play framed artificial workers as a social and political question.
Industrial automation: The use of control systems and machinery to perform industrial processes with reduced direct human operation. Robots became one of the most visible forms of automated manufacturing.
Al-Jazari: A 13th-century engineer whose treatise describes elaborate water clocks, automata, and mechanical devices. His programmable musical automata mark a major medieval achievement in machine design.
Hero of Alexandria: A Greek mathematician and engineer whose writings describe devices powered by air, water, and steam. His designs document ancient experiments with automatic mechanisms.
Numerical control: The automated control of machine tools through coded instructions specifying their operations and movements. Numerical control supplied a practical model for programming precise machine actions.
Isaac Asimov: A writer whose robot stories introduced the Three Laws of Robotics and influenced popular ideas about robots. His fiction gave robotics a lasting vocabulary for machine ethics and control.
Automation and employment: The study of how machines and automated systems change jobs, wages, and the demand for labor. Robot adoption has repeatedly changed which factory tasks people perform.